During the month of March, my team and I are working with a local ministry called Lighthouse in Action in the Red Light district of Chaing Mai, Thailand (http://lighthouseinaction.org/). Chiang Mai is a popular tourist destination for foreigners, but also a prominent sex tourism destination. Regularly, there are approximately 5,000 male, female, and child prostitutes in the city, but during high tourist seasons, that number fluctuates up to 25,000.
This month we will be working in three ministry areas: Zion Café, Love Acts, and xLife.
Zion Café – Lighthouse in Action is stationed out of Zion Café in the heart of the city. It is literally a lighthouse for those trapped in prostitution. Our host, Pi Emmi, has a huge heart for her people and such a passion to give them hope and a future through Christ. The women who work here are women who have been rescued from their life in human trafficking. It is a ‘rehabilitation’ center of shorts. It is a beacon of hope and safe place to work/live and get back on your feet. This month we will work in the café alongside the regular staff. We will help them in the kitchen doing food prep, we will waitress and talk to customers, and we will work on building relationships and shining light into their lives. In doing this, we are also supporting the ‘She’s worth more’ campaign.
Love Acts – A huge part of ministry here is what’s called ‘bar ministry’. This ministry involves daily prayer walks around the city, intercessory prayer, slum ministry to children, talking to monks, and building relationships with the prostitutes, children, bar moms and lady boys who work out of the bars at night.
Each day there will be a team devoted to prayer walks during the day and ministering in the bars at night. You might be asking yourself what bar ministry looks like. We travel in groups of 3-4 people and pray about which bar/person God is leading us to. We walk in, order a drink (water or soda), and order a drink for the girl. We usually stay for 15-20 min (1-2 cokes), and during that time try to strike up a conversation. We get to know the person and about their life. This ministry isn’t about preaching the Gospel, but rather being an example of Jesus and sharing with them our story, in order for them to understand who Jesus is. Part of building relationships with them, is doing love acts: buying children dinner/candy instead of giving them money, playing with children in the slum and giving them a snack, caring for the women that no one cares about and taking them to coffee, lunch, a pedicure, or massage and showing them the Father’s love. My team and I will also be inviting the people we meet, to Zion café for game nights, worship nights, and music/karaoke. When they come to Zion, they will meet Pi Emmi and we will be able to let them know that she is there as a resource to help them if they choose to walk away from the trafficking industry.
xLife – This ministry is devoted to traveling to the remote villages where sex brokers go to buy women and children and bring them back to the city to ‘work’. The purpose is to work and live alongside Thai people and build a relationship with them. To stop human trafficking at its roots, you must go to these places and educate the families on what is really happening. Sex brokers go to these villages to purchase children, and in doing so they aren’t honest with the parents about what their children are doing for work. Around here, children work in the bars and sell things like flowers, some are trafficked into the sex industry. Parents receive money, which they need to survive, but at the expense of putting their child through suffering. It’s a mindset that needs to be changed, and the only way to do that is by being Jesus in the skin to these people and building relationships.
I know that this month is going to be life changing and many seeds will be planted. But I need your support in order to have the resources I need to plant seeds and make lasting God impressions.
In order to socialize with the women in the bars each night, we must make some sort of non-alcoholic drink purchase (coke, sprite, bottled water) or we will be asked to leave the bars. Each drink costs approximately $2, which seems cheap, but when you add it up, that is $8 per night. We will be visiting the bars at least three times a week for four weeks, resulting in at least $100 in drinks alone. To further build relationships with the women I meet, I am asked to take them to coffee, lunch, dinner, pedicures, massages, and treat them with gifts in general. Not only will I be paying for the girls, but I have to pay for myself as well. Doing these things builds respect, and leads to building a relationship where I can then share Jesus. Before I left on the Race, I knew that I needed extra money for ministry, but I wasn’t sure how much. Sponsoring me isn’t just helping me on this journey, but it’s making it possible to shine Jesus through me and reach people. If you feel called to help me this month, no matter how big or small the donation, my parents are handling all of my finances back in the states. Donations can be handed to/mailed to my parents. Please email me at [email protected] for further details or any questions.
I am SO excited for the relational aspect of this ministry. Each drink is more than just a drink, its an opportunity to develop a relationship, plant seeds and potentially change the course of a woman’s life forever. Even though you aren’t here with me, this is an opportunity for you to partner with me this month and experience the fruit of our time here in Chaing Mai. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for considering partnering with me and taking the time to read this blog.
